What is needed to accept the new explanation of DAMA results

Original · EN

The DAMA experiment clearly observes a small oscillatory signal. The observed yearly modulation is in phase with the Earth's motion around the Sun. Recent reference [Vavra, 2014] suggested that the DAMA experiment observes a WIMP of much smaller mass than what Xenon 10, Xenon 100, LUX and CDMS experiments can possibly reach. Scattering would occur on proton or oxygen target present in the NaI(Tl) crystal as OH-contamination at a few ppm level. This paper elaborates further on the idea that the OH-molecule could act as a very sensitive detection mechanism for neutrons or WIMPs, and suggests a calibration procedure to prove this idea. We also propose a new detector concept to detect a low mass WIMP.